WBFO Health & Wellness Desk

Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to impose a tax on manufacturers of prescription opioids to help pay for state programs that assist people who are addicted to them. But some say it will be patients who ultimately will have to pay the price.

The final tenant on the former Bryant Street campus of Women and Children’s Hospital closed its doors last week for a move to Buffalo’s West Side where the new Niagara Street Pediatrics opens its doors today.

Many of us share an intimate bond with our smartphones. In many instances, not an hour passes without some interaction. It’s our loyal companion waiting beside our bed at night, ready to provide a wake-up call at the designated moment. It’s a navigator, guiding us through territory unknown. It’s a constant source of information.

A program known as Nurs'n Blues, which utilizes blues music as a form of therapy for those battling chemical dependency, is being made available to patients of a Western New York mental health and substance abuse treatment provider. A collaboration uniting Music Is Art and the Blues Society of Western New York is making it possible.

Niagara County has a new urgent care option. Five Star Urgent Care cut the ribbon on its new facility at 7432 Niagara Falls Blvd. in Niagara Falls Wednesday and is now serving walk-ins and other patients from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. daily.

Horizon Health Services is adding a new building to a Niagara County campus. When it opens later this year, its fourth building on Inducon Drive in Sanborn will serve a specific population that is overcoming addictions.

Buffalo schools are becoming concerned about food allergies among the students. That ranges from the peanut issue to determining what is in other food brought into the buildings, like cupcakes for birthdays.

An aneurysm is essentially a bubble on a blood vessel. If it ruptures, about 40 percent of those people die. A local startup corporation is working on a simple blood test to detect these health threats in the brain.

The mental health of children is a key component of a new stage production at the Theatre of Youth (TOY) in Buffalo. The Boy at the Edge of Everything opens Saturday, January 20th. WBFO's senior reporter says for the first time TOY and the Mental Health Association of Erie County are collaborating to spark an important conversation in our community.

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4:33

WBFO's senior reporter says for the first time TOY & the Mental Health Association of Erie County are collaborating to spark an important conversation in our community.

A new documentary airing on WNED-TV and PBS stations across the country looks at the underlying causes and the impacts of America’s opioid problem. WBFO’s Avery Schneider sat down with the show’s writer and producer John Grant, to find out more about the making of the program.

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6:52

WBFO's Avery Schneider speaks with Writer and Producer John Grant about Understanding the Opioid Epidemic, a one-hour documentary. WARNING: This interview contain graphic descriptions of violence and drug use.